170 THE HORSE BOOK. 



a broader basis. The few importers who 

 brought over mares in an earlier day have suc- 

 ceeded in breeding some very creditable ani- 

 mals. 



THE BRITISH GROUP. 



Characteristic of two of the three British 

 draft breeds is the long hair or feather on the 

 legs. This, it may be said, is common in greater 

 or less degree to all horses reared in low-lying 

 lands for generations and once fixed as a char- 

 acteristic persists tenaciously despite trans- 

 plantation to higher ground and crossing with 

 smooth-legged stock. Regarding the general 

 appearance and size of the English horses in 

 Saxon times authorities seem to differ, but 

 there is little doubt that some improvement 

 took place after the Norman conquest in 1066. 

 It is highly probable that the horses of the fen 

 country in England — Lincoln and Cambridge — 

 partook quite largely of the general type of the 

 horses developed in northern continental 

 Europe and history teaches us that in the reign 

 of King John or about the beginning of the 

 thirteenth century and thereafter recourse was 

 freely had to Flanders for stallions to mate 

 with the British mares. An evidence of this is 

 provided in the fact that at one time the pre- 

 vailing color of the heaviest horses in England 

 was black. 



It is altogether probable, however, that the 



